Monday, June 16, 2008

Another Magical Mystery Knitting Party

Friday the 13th I attended the Magical Mystery Knitting Party at the new knit-one-one studio. I've attended a couple of these events in the past and they've always been fun and informative. The end results have varied from scarves to squid with everything in between. We're told in advance what kind of yarn and size needles to bring and we knit along as a group, learning new techniques and having a great time.

I spoke with Anita when I heard about the party and told her that if she signed up, I would too. We haven't seen each other much this year since I haven't been running a lot and this was a perfect chance to catch up and spend time together. We both registered and did our homework: cast on and knit several rows in two contrasting colors.I thought about using some other colors but decided to stay with my tried and true, red and gray. This class was to learn color work; using two colors and reading a chart. So as not to give away the product, the Amazing Kate gave us copies of the pattern a few rows at a time. We'd knit along, then get another strip of instructions.I think we all made a mistake or two. Or several. I had a hard time remembering to read the even rows from the other direction. To me, if you start one row from the right you start all rows from the right. None of this read from the left nonsense. I also made one little mistake with the red and since I didn't catch it until I was two rows past, I left it.

We knit along, with a little break for a dinner of pasta salad and sides. I was being smart and not drinking as much wine as I'd have liked, knowing I had a double workout early the next morning. I think it improved my mad knitting skilz a bit.

We were pretty sure from almost the get-go that we were knitting a skull and cross-bones, but that didn't keep us from making some absurd guesses about the end product. It's fun and just a little silly but I really don't think the end product is the total point here. It's the whole process of knitting as a group, learning things, having fun.Right about the time the shortbread made its honored appearance we confirmed that the pattern was the indeed the skull and crossbones from Hello Yarn. I've actually already knit the tote that goes with the skull, but the colorwork was a little too advanced for me at the time and I left it out in favor of stripes.I pulled the contrasting color too tight so working on my tension will be important when I do some color work for real. In fact, I think I should probably do another sampler type project before doing any real projects. It's fun to look at everyone's end results, seeing the skulls all lined up. I may felt mine the next time I use hot water in the washer (darn this drought for keeping me from excess water usage). This will make a cute hot plate holder!